Pima County Administrator Jean Lecher is filing her $1.8 billion provisional budget This includes a small tax increase to cover costs transferred by the state to local governments.
Lesha After the Great Recession forced regulators to cut budgets, the county’s General Fund budget seems to want a small upward revision. The key going forward will be getting the oversight board to vote for her when she presents her adoption plans on Tuesday.
The overall budget outlook is about 8 percent lower than current spending, which includes significant costs due to COVID-19. I’m talking about the annual budget funded by emergency funds from Washington.
It’s not a bad idea. Arizona’s government budget continues to shrink. They get hit financially during the recession, they manage to hold out during the recovery, but then another recession comes and again layoffs.
It’s not a bad idea to put some meat on your bones before another recession hits.
As it stands, the total workforce in Pima County remains 1,300 less than the peak of 8,400 in 2008. Therefore, county officials are not necessarily bloated.
The budget includes a small tax increase, even though the county is running a large surplus. The county’s justification for the increase is the general policy of adjusting property taxes to cover the underfunded obligations imposed by the state’s cost shifts, and the lack of funding for road projects as bonds and other debts are repaid. Another policy is to increase
Legislatures like to cut spending—in a way. What they really want to do is relieve the state government of its financial obligations and pass it on to the counties, the state’s local agencies.
The total cost of these shifts this year will reach $16 million.
It looks like a tax cut, but it really isn’t. Costs just move from one book to another.
But wait, that’s not all. The debt service portion of the secondary property tax obligation is expected to be reduced by 10 cents per $100 of taxable value of property. Property owners pay debt service with secondary property taxes. When the debt runs out, the interest rate should go down. The county’s policy is to use 60 percent of the falling secondary tax rate to raise primary property taxes to pay for roads. Major property taxes are paid for day-to-day operations and are set according to the wishes of the board.
So changing $16 million in state costs to a major property tax bill, and adding another $14 million for “PAYGO,” property owners are considering a 5.9% tax increase.
Here’s what might be the problem: The county expects to hit record highs when the fiscal year ends at the end of June. Fund balance is $159 million. Oversight Board policy calls for a fund balance equivalent to 17% of the General Fund, or $93 million.
They have $66 million more than expected and want a $30 million tax cut.
Now, I noted in a previous column that elected leaders are looking at thick piles of “endowment balances” (essentially cash reserves) and starting to rub their palms on what to do with them. pointed out.
That is, unless someone is talking about tax increases. Republican director Steve Christie will say no, and Democrat Sharon Bronson is a bit of a spendthrift hawk.
So I’m not sure where this is going. Democrats representing working-class South Side and West Side neighborhoods like Adelita Grijalva and Matt Heinz were visibly concerned about the growing impact of property taxes on seniors. .
Lecher wants the Pima County government to be the best place to work. With the current labor shortage, most employers want the same thing, and the price is high. She plans to set aside her $26 million of these overages for possible salary increases, wage structure adjustments, and increased county benefits.
Another $7 million will be allocated for inflation and another $7 million for potential new cost shifts handed over by the state. In addition, there is an additional $7 million budget for housing projects. An additional $2 million will be invested in correctional salaries and in incentives for recruiting sheriff’s deputies. That’s almost $50 million out of the county’s $66 million stash of end-of-year wealth.
Lesser also hopes to secure $50 million in as-yet-unknown grant opportunities (not from the endowment balance) as coronavirus funding has dried up, but the county still has various relief plans. We are looking for ways to fund the programs we offer. local government.
A final point about the budget: The county administration worked with regulators from day one to develop spending plans. So the budget should include the board’s different priorities, and some might say, “Oh my God, does what we ask cost that much?” .
title 42
Lesher also spoke about what’s going on at the border now that federal officials have lifted public health measures that allowed border agents to push asylum seekers out of the border during the coronavirus pandemic. We will provide the latest information.
Now that the pandemic is over, so is the need for Title 42 policies. A MAGA-style ruckus in the national press about the impending “calamity” of human migration, which has been going on for nearly 300,000 years, ended Friday.
Invasion! We are under siege! Sherlock is called Tohono O’dom, Pasqua Yaki, Apache, Navajo, Hopi, Sioux, Kiowa, Cherokee, Blackfeet, Iroquois. al. Go back to Cornwall!
The county has partnered with the Catholic Department of Social Services to transfer asylum seekers to renovated facilities using federal funds. The county pays the bill. Social welfare organizations do the work.
On the first day, the county did not “open the streets” to the 1,600 immigrants who applied through county facilities. They were all preparing to leave for their destination.
Pima County is working with Santa Cruz, Cochise, and Yuma Counties to address immigration flows.
Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors vote on tuesday Whether to declare a state of emergency at the border in anticipation of stress on local services.
As far as I’m concerned with the Santa Cruz Commission, they’re scheduled to vote on May 20th for a fireworks permit for the Tubac Golf Resort promising 250 aerial effects.
Nogales City Council canceled a scheduled meeting. Either the city has too many immigrants to meet, or you’ve been to this rodeo before and weren’t particularly impressed.
Copper novel coronavirus
On the other hand, supervisor Rex Scott Will ask regulators to oppose Mining Needs Permit Act and Mining Regulatory Transparency Act. Both are in the process of passing the U.S. House of Representatives.
Both are part of an effort to provide an easier approval path for hard rock mines, which are regulated by the Mining Act of 1872 and numerous environmental regulations passed over the past 50 years.
These industry-backed bills could reach President Joe Biden’s desk even as Congress is divided. The Mining Regulation Clarification Act was introduced by Nevada Senator Katherine Cortez Mast and Idaho Republican Senator Jim Risch.
The bill responds to a federal court ruling that prohibited the Rosemont Copper Project from dumping mining waste on federal land adjacent to mining operations. Environmental activists welcomed the Ninth Circuit’s ruling, but the Biden campaign is said to be concerned about the impact of the ruling on clean energy plans.
Mining of resources such as copper and cobalt is necessary for clean energy. Climate action and mining are therefore interrelated for the time being.
The bill needs two votes to pass the Democratic Senate. Cortes Masto is one of them. Who thinks Senator Kirsten Cinema could be second? Interestingly, the bill may not be such a big deal for West Virginia’s Joe Manchin. West Virginia is mining coal. Coal mining is “seam mining”. Another West Virginia Democrat named Nick Rahal attempted a major overhaul of the Mining Act of 1872 in 1993. West Virginians didn’t like the looser regulation of coal mining than hard rock mining.
Scott wants the board to take a stand on the mining proposal and will likely send a message to Cinema. Yes, she will listen without a hedge fund (sniff! snort! snort!).
On the front lines of coronavirus Christie plans to call for all Pima County employees to be fired For neglecting vaccinations and not returning salaries. “Because Republicans believe it’s not the job of the government to do what people do medically, unless they’re pregnant or transgender Americans.
Don’t expect this measure to have that much of an impact, but notice the spike in Heinz’s (Dr. Matt Heinz) blood pressure.
Christie does something like this every week. He’s not actually making up reality out of air vapor, so he’s not really a troll. People were fired from the county. It’s not entirely bird chasing because he’s not letting anyone be honest. The county was outspoken about the dismissal. It’s more trogging.
A group of animal lovers (we presume) called Friends of Pima County Animal Care wants to pay the veterinarian supervisors who supervise the ministry’s mobile veterinary unit. They offer him a $73,000 grant to help improve animal welfare in the area.
there is also Planned rezoning of 356 acres in south Wilmot and east Andrada Build roads from rural residential areas to small housing reserves to allow up to 800 housing units to be built on the development plan.
The rezoning was approved in 2017, and in February the regulator approved a five-year extension. Tuesday’s vote will see an adjustment to the terms of service.
Pima challenge
The Pima Community College Board of Trustees will discuss the three-year budget plan and obstacles to financial stability.
The plan is to align capital investment with the university’s strategic goals, while maintaining the highest tax rates and limiting tuition increases to $2 per credit hour.
Prime Minister Lee Lambert backs Pima Getting slimmer, if not mean. His goal is to increase the ratio of staff and administration to students, down from 20 him per student in 2012 to 12 him today. He wants it back towards 20.
The university is trying to adjust to “flat” revenues and “struggling enrollments and declining prospects.”
It cannot be stressed enough that this should not happen. The problem isn’t that PCC is messed up, but that the rest of the community seems to be unable to utilize his PCC as a vital resource.
There was also a staff survey, in which staff were asked a number of questions about job satisfaction and how well the district was doing in its mission, and the overwhelming response was “fair.”
Respondents were asked to rate the university on a scale of 1 to 5. There were a lot of questions, but the answers were generally between 3 (somewhat satisfied) and 4 (satisfactory).
How much is 1/2 plus 1 of what?
The Marana City Council will hold a vote to update the election rules, but don’t worry. This makes sense.
The candidate receiving a majority of the votes during the primary election will be deemed the winner. It is determined by town ordinance. Some ask for clarification About how to calculate the majority. To me it seems simple. That’s a majority of the votes.
In this way I want city officials to decide.. I’m not sure what, but you might be wondering about other denominators you can use. Once this clarifies the situation, let the beans cool.
Bill to be voted on Police vehicles used for sting operations exempt on Tuesday Eliminates the need to reveal government ownership.
yeah, that wouldn’t work.
Finally, the South Tucson City Council, public meeting law, during a meeting on Tuesday. It was held last month. I have more to say.
